I'll Always Be With You
by tailslover666
Summary: COMPLETE! Yet another sob-fest from Tailslover666. I don't wanna give anything away so just get reading...oh, and don't forget to review!


I'll always be with you...

_Well, here I am again. I hope you arn't getting sick of me already but if you are-tough! (Hee hee!) just kidding! Thankyou for all the wonderful reviews for my other four stories-they always make me smile! So keep reviewing and I'll keep writing-ok?_

It could have been so different. It didn't have to be this way. It didn't have to happen...

"Will you walk me home Sonic; I hate thunderstorms..." The young voice of the two tailed fox asked hopefully.

"Soz lil' bro but I told the others that I'd meet them when they got off the train. You go on home and clean up the front room a bit for when they arrive." Sonic replied and ruffled the kit's head fur.

"But Sonic-"Tails protested in a pleading tone.

"Tails-Sally and everyone won't know where to go if I don't meet them will they?" Sonic said, trying to reason.

"O.k. Sonic..." Tails replied miserably.

"See you soon lil' guy!" Sonic said, trying to cheer him up a bit.

"I love you Sonic." Tails said quietly. Sonic frowned.

"It's not like I'm going away forever Tails. I love you too o.k?" He said, slightly puzzled at Tails' worry.

"Be quick Sonic; I have a bad feeling about something..." Tails added.

Sonic knew all too well about Tails' 'bad feelings'. Whenever Tails had said that something bad was going to happen, it always had done. It was like the fox had some sort of psychic abilities or something. This time though, Sonic felt he had to risk it; he couldn't leave everyone at the train platform to walk Tails home, it was raining really hard.

"See ya soon bro." Sonic finalised as he began to leave. Tails stared after him until he was totally out of sight then ran back home as fast as he could. His tails lashed behind him in the wind like whips but he paid no notice and ran even faster, as if trying to run away from the bad thing that he knew was going to happen even though he didn't know what it was.

Sonic met Sally, Amy, Bunnie and Shadow at the station.

"Knuckles said he'll be here soon; he had some unfinished business." Sally informed Sonic as they set off away from the station. The rain still poured hard and everyone got drenched.

Ten minutes later, the group was a few hundred metres away from the house and could see its lights in the darkness.

"Is that it?" Asked Amy.

"Yep, Tails is already there." Sonic replied but didn't really need to have done because as soon as he finished his sentence, an ear splitting scream that sounded terrifyingly familiar echoed through the night.

They all stopped dead in their tracks.

"TAILS! WHERE ARE YOU?!!!" Sonic screamed as he tried to define where the noise was coming from.

"He's still in the house!!" Shadow yelled over the screaming and they all set off at a run towards it. Upon arrival, Sonic frantically twisted and pulled the door handle but found that it was locked.

"TAILS! OPEN THE DOOR!" Sally cried in the vain hope that he would. Tails now heard the voices of the panicked Freedom Fighters outside and tried to call back to them.

"SONIC!-SALLY!-HELP!!" The fox pleaded in desperate terror. It came out as more of a choked stutter but they still heard it.

"OH MOBIUS! HELP ME GET THIS DOOR OPEN!" Shadow cried as the foxes' screams spurred him into action. No matter how hard they tried, the door would not budge. Several crashes from inside reached their ears and they tried once more to get the door open.

"TAILS! WE'RE COMING TAILS! HOLD ON!!!" Bunnie screamed at the door. The reply she got made everyone's heart skip a beat.

"S...Sonic...please help..." His much quieter, breathless voice begged.

Suddenly, a loud thud and a cracking noise shook the door. Tails once again screamed, but a lot less frantically now.

"QUICK! THE WINDOW!" Sally ordered as soon as she thought of the idea and they rushed to the side of the house to the back door window.

It was already smashed and glass lay all over the ground around the area. One by one, each of them climbed through the window and ran into the living room. There, they found the whole room totally trashed. Glass from the coffee table covered the floor here too and everything was all over the place.

Suddenly, a movement from their right made each swivel their heads in the direction. What they saw was the greatest shock of all.

Knuckles stood over the now barely conscious Tails and was repeatedly smashing his head onto the hard, wooden floor. As soon as Knuckles saw them, he flashed a sinister smile and jumped out of the nearest window, smashing it at his went through.

"TAILS!" Bunnie screamed when she saw him. The foxes' chest raised and fell deeply as Tails gasped for breath. The Freedom Fighters ran over to his limp body and Sonic fell to his knees next to him.

Blood poured out from the back of Tails' head from the severe head trauma and ran across the floor in a thin trickle. He coughed and blood bubbled up out of his mouth, causing him to cough further.

"Tails-It's all going to be fine...it's going to be alright...I promise." Sonic said quietly although he didn't believe it.

Tails tried to say something but his voice just came out as a choked wheeze.

"L....L...L..." Tails strained to say.

"What Tails? What do you want to say?" Sally tried to help and everyone put their heads closer to hear. They all listened carefully as Tails' breaths got quieter and slower.

"I...always...be...with...you...guyssss......" Tails whispered then took his final breath. They all stood in silence for what seemed an eternity. Tails was only ten years old.

"I miss him already..." Sonic finally said in a whisper. His voice was muffled by the tears that were already beginning to roll steadily down his cheeks.

Sally walked without a sound into the bedroom and soon returned with a blanket. She stared blankly as she walked then turned her eyes back to the body of her adopted child.

She gently lifted the corpse and wrapped him in the blanket like a baby. Sonic lent over to them and softly closed Tails' sad eyes for the last time. He proceeded to stroke Tails' still warm forehead, as he allowed the tears to fall.

"I love you Tails-don't ever forget that alright." Sonic whispered into his ear before rising to his feet and slowly walking back outside. They all watched him go, his feet dragging at every step, and then diverted their eyes back to Sally and Tails. She was rocking him back and forth as if she was rocking him to sleep.

"He's gone Sally." Rotor said carefully.

"I know," She replied. "I just wanted to pretend for a little while longer..." She ended sadly. Bunnie reached down to her and took Tails into her own arms as carefully as she could. Rotor and Antoine helped Sally to her feet and everyone set off in Sonic's direction. Once they got back outside, they saw the hedgehog immediately. He was sat at the edge of the cliff that Tails' house sat on and was staring into the black waters below.

"I'll go." Shadow offered and made his way towards Sonic. The others began to set off home. Bunnie still had Tails, who was still wrapped in the blanket, in her arms and walked in the centre of the others.

"You think Sonic'll be o.k?" Rotor questioned half-heartedly.

"Probably not. Tails idolised Sonic and Sonic loved him with all his heart. They knew each other so well they were pretty much the same being and now he's gone, it's like Sonic's lost half of himself." Sally replied. Rotor looked to the floor wishing he hadn't asked.

Meanwhile, Shadow had calmly sat down next to Sonic and joined him staring into the calm waters. Neither spoke a word for a long time. Shadow thought of how to break the ice.

"It isn't your fault Sonic. We tried to get to him but it was too late." Shadow finally decided upon.

"You see Shadow, that isn't exactly true..." Sonic said in a faint whisper. Shadow just managed to hear him.

"Why's that?" He asked. Sonic sighed and shook his head as if trying to block out the memory.

"Because," Sonic turned to look at Shadow. "Because he knew this was going to happen-he told me that something bad was going to happen and I didn't listen!" Sonic now raised his voice.

"Sonic there's no way you could have known that he was going to-"Shadow stopped himself before he actually said the word 'die' but both of them knew what he meant.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Sonic practically screamed. "HE VIRTUALLY BEGGED ME TO WALK HIM HOME AND I SAID NO!!!" Sonic continued and burst into floods of tears on Shadow's shoulder. Shadow embraced him and placed a hand on Sonic's back. "HE BEGGED ME!" Sonic repeated through the tears.

"You didn't know." Shadow tried to comfort Sonic like a father would to a son. Sonic suddenly pushed himself away from Shadow and jumped to his feet.

"I SWORE I WOULD PROTECT HIM! I TOLD HIM THAT I WOULD NEVER LET HIM GET HURT! I PROMISED THAT I WOULD TAKE MY OWN LIFE BEFORE LETTING ANYTHING HARM HIM!" sonic yelled then suddenly realised what he just said and stopped crying. He once again glanced at the ocean below the cliff then looked back to Shadow. Shadow realised immediately what was going through Sonic's mind.

"No Sonic...Don't you think like that!" He ordered but Sonic wasn't listening anymore. The young hedgehog simply gazed blankly into his eyes.

"I promised..." He whispered to himself. Shadow gazed back into Sonic's eyes and could almost feel the pain Sonic was in. There was a moment where they each just stared at each other sorrowfully. Then suddenly, Sonic came out of his stupor and began to walk purposely to the cliff edge once more. Shadow dived after him but by then it was too late. Shadow tripped over a stone in the darkness and fell. Sonic turned back one last time and looked at Shadow as one last tear seeped from his eye.

"Say bye to everyone for me..." Sonic asked in an eerily calm tone. Shadow smiled at him compassionately.

"I'm coming Tails..." He said as he slowly leaned over the edge of the cliff and let himself begin to fall headfirst. Shadow scrambled to his feet and leaned over the edge to see his friend falling to his watery end.

"I'll always be with you guys..." Sonic called back up Tails' last words as his descent quickened. Shadow heard a faint splash after a couple of seconds and, even though it was too dark to see, he knew that Sonic had gone.

"We'll meet again one day..." Shadow sobbed quietly to the sky that he was sure Sonic and Tails were floating gently in. A shooting star crossed the sky as he said this and it made him smile. They were together again now, Shadow thought as he began his walk to inform the others.......

END.


End file.
